Perspective

My shower had been draining slowly for months and yesterday it just got on my last nerve. The last time this happened I called a plumber to come snake it out. He ended up not even charging me for it because he said that he only had to clean out from right under the drain cover and it took two seconds. So, this time, I unscrewed the drain cover and pulled out a big clog of gross and ran the water to see if that did the trick.

It was still running slowly. Shoot. I dug around in there with my finger and then the screw driver when my finger wouldn't reach. I poured in some baking soda and vinegar to try and fizz it out and finally added something called Drain Maid, which is some kind of organic-keep-your-drain-running-free stuff. Then I waited.

After a while I went to take a shower. The water was moving better than it had been, I noticed with satisfaction. About half way through my shower the water really started moving. "Wow!" I thought, "Yes! I did it! Man, look at my skills." I lathered up my legs with joy.

About two minutes later I heard a big commotion. "Ergh, now what?"

"Mom! Mom!" I heard the thunder of feet on the stairs.

"Can't I have just one peaceful shower?" I grumbled in my head.

"Turnofftheshower! Turunofftheshower!" The bathroom door slammed open and my four foot high herald burst in. "Mom! Turn off the shower!"

That's when I could hear the other kids yelling from downstairs, "It's raining in the house! Water is coming out of the ceiling! Mom! Turn off the shower!"

I grabbed a towel and rushed downstairs to the kitchen. (This might be a good time for a quick aside to thank Russ for "forcing" me to buy extra large bath towels a year ago. "Honey, you're the best. I will never doubt your need for newer, bigger, better.") There stood my older two children, and a neighbor girl. And water was indeed running out of the ceiling.

"My hand is wet!" the neighbor girl said.

"I think more than just my hand is wet," I said with a laugh. I find making jokes keeps me calm and from lashing out at innocent bystanders in a stressful situation. I probably should have remembered that later in the evening when I was pulling down chunks of ceiling and trying to catch the water so it wouldn't just drip in any old random place.

This morning our new best friend Jim came in and confirmed what we all suspected. In my drain cleaning efforts I had punched a hole in the drainpipe. Granted it was corroded and soft and all that, but still I did it. That sounds a whole lot different from "I did it!" doesn't it?

Ah, perspective.